The invention is related to Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems. More specifically, the invention is related to systems and methods for connecting two people who are attempting to call each other at substantially the same time.
When two people are attempting to call each other simultaneously, it is common for one or both parties to receive a busy signal, indicating that the other party's telephony device is engaged in another call. As a result, the call attempt fails.
One common situation where two parties end up trying to call each other at the same time occurs when the two parties are conducting a telephone call, and the call is prematurely disconnected. When that occurs, often each party will attempt to call the other party. And because one or both parties receive a busy signal, it becomes difficult and frustrating for the parties to re-connect.
An ongoing telephone call can be prematurely disconnected for any of many different reasons. One party may accidentally terminate the call. The telephony systems which are providing the service for the call may malfunction, resulting in premature termination of the call. Also, if one or both parties is using a cellular telephone to conduct the call, a party using a cellular telephone may travel out of range of a cell tower, and the call may be terminated. The same sort of thing may happen if one of the parties is utilizing a wireless access point connection to a data network to conduct the call, and the party's telephony device moves out of range of the wireless access point.
There is a need for systems and methods which can identify when two parties are attempting to call each other at the same time, and which can assist in connecting the parties.